Ikigai Film Lab transformed their film processing experience with Paperform

Learn how Ikigai Film Lab turned passion into a thriving business—and how Paperform helps the team spend more time on art (and less time on admin).

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Highlights

• Peter Davison started Ikigai Film Lab six years ago. The company offers professional processing and scanning of film for a variety of customers, from professional photographers to hobbyists.
• Customers place orders using a Paperform form embedded on Ikigai’s website, where they submit details about their order as well as their payment. Today, 99% of the company’s orders come through this single form.
• That straightforward ordering process has minimized customer errors and freed up the team’s time so that they can focus on fulfilling the orders that come in.
• Ikigai loves how easy Paperform is to use, as well as the integrations, automations, and helpful features like calculations and conditional logic.

Overview

1. Challenge: Because he started his business solo, Peter needed a streamlined and systemized way to take in new orders and payments, without hassles, confusion, and mistakes.
2. Solution: After experimenting with a few other options, Peter quickly opted for Paperform. Today, Ikigai Film Labs embeds a Paperform form on the company’s website where customers can submit their order details and payment, all with only a few simple steps.
3. Results: The digital process saved Ikigai Film Labs hours spent sending invoices and correcting errors, something that Peter says he likely would’ve had to dedicate an entire employee to. Plus, the process sets Ikigai apart from its competitors, many of which still rely on outdated, manual, and paper-based processes.

About

Peter Davison, the Founder and Owner of Ikigai Film Lab, didn’t set out for a career in processing and scanning film. Quite the opposite, actually. He started his career as an accountant.

But shooting photos on film was a beloved hobby of his and, after seeing some gaps in the market, he started Ikigai Film Lab six years ago. He kicked off the business as a one-man band but has since brought in two other team members.

As far as the name goes, it’s a nod to Peter’s love for film. Ikigai is a Japanese concept for “your passion or why you get out of your bed in the morning,” Peter says. “I didn’t really grow up with film, but as soon as I started shooting it, I just knew that it was something I wanted to be involved with.”

As soon as I started shooting [film], I just knew that it was something I wanted to be involved with.

That’s exactly what he does now day in and day out with Ikigai Film Lab, a business that offers professional processing and scanning of film for a variety of customers, from professionals to hobbyists.

And while there are other film processors in the game, Ikigai sets itself apart in a few ways. One is its streamlined approach to orders (which we’ll cover a little more later), but another is the care and attention to detail the team dedicates to every single project.

“The idea is to spend as much time as possible on each role,” Peter says about how the team approaches each one of their orders. “We do a lot of wedding work and motherhood photography and things like that. So the moments that you’re scanning are important enough that they’re going to be looked at years and years down the line.”

The moments that you’re scanning are important enough that they’re going to be looked at years and years down the line.

You might think that level of intensity would quickly become mundane, but Peter and the team still feel the same amount of enthusiasm as they did when he first opened the business. “Even though they’re not my photos,  when we pull them out of the tanks, it’s still exciting for me,” Peter shares. “It’s still something that I just can’t get enough of.”

The challenge

It’s safe to say that Peter has passion in spades. But the logistics of actually running the business and managing the order process? That admittedly felt less natural and intuitive.

Peter knew one thing for sure: He wanted something that worked well right away. Especially because he started the business solo, he knew he couldn’t rely on a manual, time-consuming, paper system the way the rest of the industry did.

And more than that, he didn’t want to have to invest time and energy to overhaul his systems later. “Once you’ve started a business, it’s really hard to stop the way you do it and then move backward to something new,” Peter says.

For those reasons, he wanted to make the right choice right away. He needed something simple and approachable for his customers, that could integrate well with his other tools and platforms, and that could help him be as hands-off as possible with managing incoming orders so he could focus on the part he enjoyed most: processing and scanning film.

The solution

When he started his search, Peter experimented with Google Forms and JotForm but quickly realized that he didn’t like the way they looked or functioned. Fortunately, he discovered Paperform soon after and immediately noticed how easy it was for him to build the flow he needed.

Today, Peter says that 99% of Ikigai’s orders come through the Paperform form they have embedded directly on the website.

Customers use the form to provide relevant details about their order—like what services they want, what type and size of film they’re sending, and how many rolls they have. That form pushes them to make a payment for their order and also automatically generates a digital job sheet for the film lab to get started.

It’s exactly what Peter wanted: simple, streamlined, and straightforward. Here are some more details about how Ikigai Film Lab uses Paperform (and why the team loves it).

1. Integrated payments for easier cash flow

One of the things Peter loves most about the Paperform form is that he can integrate Square payments directly with his order form. That means customers need to pay when placing their initial order. Once they’ve answered the initial questions, they’re pushed to the Square page where they enter their payment details.

Without that, the team would have to invoice customers, wait for the invoice to be paid, and then finally send the photos…all of which Peter says adds unnecessary lag and bloat to the process.

“It’s just saving that admin and having it automated from the start,” Peter says. “The payment side of it’s all taken care of and it’s all correct.”

2. Calculations for a hassle-free order

The details of a customer’s order hinge not only on what type of film they’re sending in, but how much film they’re sending in. Peter says that Paperform’s calculations have been instrumental in helping him build a form that automatically adds up a customer’s total (so they can pay the correct amount).

“We use a calculation block to count the number of rolls being sent in and it double-checks it with [the customer],” Peter explains.

At the bottom of the order form, customers need to check a box to confirm that their total number of rolls is correct before they submit the information and their payment. It’s helped Ikigai ensure that customers are paying only for what they need and cuts down on refunds and other problems.

3. Conditional logic for better form flow

In terms of simplifying the customer experience and reducing errors, Peter says that Paperform’s conditional logic has been another huge boost. “We use the conditional visibility to set up the flow of the form,” he explains.

On the order form, customers start by selecting the service they want. From there, they need to select their film types, sizes, and more. Whatever selections they make alter the next questions on the form, so they’re only answering questions that are relevant to their order.

It’s made the process far more painless for customers but also minimized the potential for errors. Peter notes that film can be somewhat technical, especially for hobbyists or people who are just getting into it, and a conditional form helps them avoid feeling overwhelmed.

Simplicity is a theme that Peter applied to the overall design of the form as well. He didn’t go overboard with design elements and instead chose to add his logo and make a few other intuitive design tweaks—like using film icon colors that are synonymous with those processes (like a black film icon for black and white film, as one example). “We’re just trying to keep it as simple as possible and not cluttered,” he adds.

4. Seamless receipts and order confirmations

Submission of an order form automatically triggers a digital job sheet for the film lab, but it also delivers a PDF receipt directly to the customer.

Peter loves that he can choose what information should be pulled from the form and piped into the PDF receipt. And, as a bonus, it’s another opportunity for customers to confirm their order details before Ikigai gets started. If something is incorrect, there’s a note right on the receipt directing customers to send an email.

It’s a slick process, but one that Peter says was surprisingly straightforward to build. “I found it a lot easier to make something that quickly worked,” he shares.

I found it a lot easier to make something that quickly worked.

5. Increased agility and adaptability

Like any other business owner, Peter is always looking for growth opportunities for his business—like starting to manufacture film cases from recycled film containers.

He says that’s a less obvious benefit of using digital tools and workflows in his business: they make his business far more nimble and adaptable than he could be with manual processes. “With a digital experience, we can just go on the fly and adjust something,” he adds.

6. Silky smooth customer journey

Peter loves how Paperform has automated and simplified his business and he’s not alone—his customers love it too. “We occasionally get emails from people that say, ‘This is great. This is really logical and I love the way this works,’” he says about customer feedback on his ordering process.

And it’s a competitive differentiator too, with the smooth process setting Ikigai apart from other players in the industry. “It’s a lot easier than what other places do,” Peter says.

“We occasionally get emails from people that say, ‘This is great. This is really logical and I love the way this works.’”

The results

Ikigai Film Lab has been with Paperform since the start, and Peter doesn’t see that changing anytime soon. Most of that is owed to the straightforward experience. “It was really easy to build a form that looked good and was functional,” Peter explains.

Paperform saved Peter hours spent cursing at another form builder, but it’s certainly not the only benefit he’s experienced. Here are a few other impressive results Ikigai Film Lab has seen since using Paperform:

• Ikigai’s order form was so easy and intuitive that it quickly became the default approach for customers to place new orders. Peter says that 99% of orders now come through the Paperform form.
• Ikigai would’ve needed to hire a dedicated team member to work solely on order management and sending invoices. But, Paperform’s integrations and automated workflows mean payments are collected quickly, easily, and correctly (and without any human intervention).
• Form functionality like calculations and conditional logic have helped Ikigai build a form that reduces errors. That means the team spends less time correcting mistakes or issuing refunds and more time actually fulfilling customer orders.
• Ikigai’s customers have praised the straightforward and helpful ordering process, even mentioning that it sets Ikigai Film Labs apart from its competitors.

Ultimately, Paperform has helped Peter and Ikigai Film Labs hit a major business win: a huge impact with little hassle. “It’s really easy to build something that looks good without putting in heaps of effort or knowing much code,” Peter says.

It’s really easy to build something that looks good without putting in heaps of effort or knowing much code.

Create your own picture-perfect processes

Peter started his business with a love for film. So understandably, he wants to spend more time on the creative work and less time managing admin and logistics.

Paperform helps him do that—and we can help you too. Sign up for Paperform for free (no credit card required) and start exploring how you can automate your workflows and get back to the work you love.